If a gun shop IS the source of crime

This is a discussion on If a gun shop IS the source of crime within the The Second Amendment & Gun Legislation Discussion forums, part of the Related Topics category; Should it be shutdown?
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=4159028
This is a local shop and I never go there. The guns are way overpriced and the clientel are mostly ...

UPPER DARBY, Pa. - May 17, 2006 - Law enforcement is in the midst of a concerted effort to combat growing gun violence. Police and community leaders today are focusing their efforts on a gun shop they say is responsible for putting many of the weapons on the street.

The business in question is Lou's Pawn shop. Gun control activists say that in a single year, the shop that store sold 178 guns that were later used in crimes.

Under Pennsylvania law, those sales were all legal. But the gun control advocates want that to change.

so if there is a rash of muffler beatings where the mufflers come from auto zone you gona close the auto parts store know this souds silly but blaming the the store for some one being a crimanal is like blaming the gun for the crime one gun or a million of them never comited a murder on there own but on man or a million might

The articoe states that all of the gun sales were legal. I don't see a problem with the gun shop. This 'straw purchase' ruse to sue gun shops and attempt to shut them down is a bit suspicous. It seems that in HINDSIGHT it may be obvious that the purchase was for resale to someone oels, however, it may not have been apparent at the time of the original purchase. And how many of the 178 were to the same person? or was it 150 different people, or 100 or only 5. Either way, go after those making straw purchases, the records are there to get them not the gun shop.

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Bob McDuffee, co-host DogWatch Social Club Podcast
Thoughtful Conversation, Considered Opinion and a Touch of Insanity
"He who goes about unarmed in paradise, had better be sure that is where he is!" James Thurber

A gun dealer can only go by info supplied and if it seems to check out OK - there is little more they can do. The figure given of 178 is both staggering I admit very concerning - each and every gun sale that leads to crime is one more problem for us legit' folks.

Now if numerous sales were categorically proven to be illegal then yes, close a store - it is necessary to keep a tight run ship for our own sakes.

More info is needed here re how and why and when with transactions - and over what timeframe too.

I'm sort of with Matt and others on this. If they were legal sales, then what should go away is the bar serving as a hangout for the drug dealers. The drug dealers are the problem, not the shop. And now that they have been busted maybe the problem is solved. I'd say that if he is required to move his shop, the city/county/state requiring it should pay for his move....

Gun control activists say that in a single year, the shop that store sold 178 guns that were later used in crimes

See how well articulated the statement was written. It doesn't tell what kind of crimes or if they were bought and inmediately used in a commission of a crime or if they were stolen and then used. It does not tell you what percentage of the total volume of guns sold during the year this number represent or if it is higher or lower than other stores.

They tried to pull the same stunt here last year down here in South Florida. Incidentally, the name of the gun shop was Lou's too. A two day "in depth" reporting by the Miami Herald pointed the finger at this shop for selling the biggest amount of guns used in crimes. They sort of forgot, did not know or ignored that Lou's is probably the biggest sellers of firearms in SoFla and that the number of firearms sold from that store and used in crimes was a miniscule & ridicule figure. The funniest part was that some "concerned" advocates of gun control tried to hint that the store might be involved in some sort of illegal activities: shadowy figures, colombian drug dealers and gangsta types going to Lou's for their combat wares... which it is hilarious if you have actually tried to park nearby the damn store. Not only it has insuficient spaces but 90% of the spaces are taken by patrol cars from every darn jurisdiction in SoFla.

You see, Lou's is the premier Gun Store for LEO's down here. Also a cop hangout. Not the type of place your average criminal goes to do a straw purchase or get an AK for tonite's Drive-By.

We had the same situation here in Wisconsin. Between 1996 and 1998 the largest gun store in our state was linked to the guns used to commit 40 homicides. However, all paperwork was done according to requirements and the store is still the states largest and best. If the stores are selling legally don't blame them, go after the people reselling the guns. In most of these of shootings it's the bad guys shooting each other anyway.

Many years ago, a man chased down and hacked up his nephew with a chainsaw, and I was hoping that chainsaw wasn't bought at my dad's store, because I was afraid the family would include in their lawsuit the store the chainsaw was bought from. It wouldn't be the first time my dad was sued for the end-user's misuse; many years before that, a family misused a cleaning agent, set their house on fire, resulting in their baby being killed. Dad's insurance co. settled out of court, and to this day, I'll bet that family still blames my dad.

If the guns were purchased legally, the store should not be held responsible.
If they were sold illegally, they should be held responsible.
If they were sold legally but the owner had clear knowledge the buyer was going to commit a crime with it, or knew it was a strawman purchase, they should be responsible.